


The Ned AU

by Homerthe27



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Learning to become a good friend, Miraculous Holders, Miraculous Ladybug AU, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Mostly First person, Ned AU, Original Character-centric, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Paris (City), School, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail, Super Heroes stuff, That one guy that knows their secret, Unrequited Love, feeling invisible, ned knows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-03 17:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21183422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homerthe27/pseuds/Homerthe27
Summary: This is the story of Ned. Who is Ned, you ask? He is the guy that sits in the back of the class behind Marinette and Adrian. Don't remember him? That tends to happen. There is nothing quite unique about him, except that people tend to forget that he is around. That, and he knows Ladybug's and Chat Noir's secret identities.





	1. What about bubbles?

* * *

"Rose, are you here today?"

_'_"Yes, Miss Bustier," she announced.

"Kim?" Miss Bustier called her student for attendance.

"Here" he replied

"Sabrina, are you here?"

"Present"

"Alright," the homeroom teacher set down the clipboard, finishing taking attendance. "Now that all 12 of you are all here, let's go over the last assignment."

"Umm miss," I raised my hand, "You forgot to call my name."

My name is Ned Sécrin, and I am a student here at Françoise Dupont High School, Room A. This is the 3rd time this week that I haven't been called during attendance. Being forgotten is not an unusual occurrence for me. It's just a weird thing that just kind of happens. I don't know why. It has been happening for as long as I can remember. My parents would always forget that I was in the car and would drive to work before they realize I was in the backseat. I have been left behind on multiple field trips because the teachers didn't notice that I wasn't on the bus or the list. I was once locked inside an establishment overnight because the owners forgot I was still there. I don't completely understand it. Maybe I just look too much like any other pale skinned-brown eye Parisian, and I just fade into the background too well. My older sister would often joke that when I was born, my parents left me behind at the hospital after my mom gave birth, I don't think it's true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were. Even when I got enrolled in Françoise Dupont, the school's new computer system deleted me off the list, hence the reason I am not on the attendance sheet.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Ned," my teacher apologized, "I guess the system still refuses to put you in the system."

"Don't worry, about it," At this point, I am used too it. I don't complain as I did when I was younger, I just kind of accepted that tend not to exist. It's not a perfect arrangement, but what is?

"As I said, let us review our assignment. You were supposed to reach the first parts of the _Elegance of the Hedgehog_. Can someone tell what you noticed about our two main characters' points of view?"

I slowly raised my hand again. I had enjoyed this reading assignment. So much so that I ended up reading the entire thing twice.

"Anyone?" Miss Bustier asked her students, "You all should have read the book."

I raised my hand higher. But Miss B still didn't seem to notice. I started to move my hand down, then she looked in my direction and pointed in my general direction. Was I finally be able to speak?

"Ah, Adrian, what do you have to say about the book."

I look in front of me, and sure enough, Adrian Agreste, the world-famous-fashion-model, had his hand raised.

"Despite the fact, the clear difference between the two protagonists in a material sense, the two have a similar mindset."

"Interesting assessment Adrian" She applauded. "Yes, did anyone else make a similar analysis?"

'I_ did,_' I thought to myself. There was also the fact that the two hid their genius talents to conform to the world around them as well as the two's flawed distrust in intelligence, but I guess that I will save that for the paper. But it was clear that today I won't be able to speak. Again I wasn't bitter or sad about it, but it would have been a nice change of pace.

The rest of the school day went by in a similar fashion. My questions were never answered. The other teacher's often forgotten to call my name during their attendance. But hey they remembered my name this time so, improvement? Overall it was just another day at School. When the final bell rang, I didn't stick around, not in the mood to attempt to socialize, and started heading my way home.

As I got to the front of the school, I began to overhear my classmates talking. The eavesdropper inside of me couldn't help it, and before I knew it, I found myself listening to their conversation, "Has your dad always been a downer. Doesn't he remember what it was like to young and party."

"No, I am pretty sure he was a downer back then too. Well at least I tried"

Ah, It looks like Adrian was having some trouble with his father. I guess that is what happens when your father runs a fashion empire.

"It's your BDay, my dude," His best friend Nino urged him "insist."

Oh, was it Adrians birthday today? I guess I should wish him a happy birthday before he heads out. Before I could do that, I hear a small chant coming from the bushes by the stairs. I walk over to get a closer look because last time I check bushes can't talk.

"I can't do it. I can't do it."

"You have been stalling all mourning. Now's the time."

I looked back and saw Marinette, the clumsy fashion girl from my class. She and her friend Alya were hiding behind the stares, away from Adrian. Marinette was holding a blue box in her hand. A present? Was it for Adrian? If so, why is she being so hesitant?

Then before I knew it, Aylay pushed her friend right in the path of Adrian. She paused as the two made eye contact. Marinette quickly hid her gift behind her back, and awkwardly waved at Adrian and him too her.

"Those two are weird," I say to myself, as I am ready to head off, but all of a sudden, I was pushed aside by another member of my class: Chloé, the mayor's daughter.

I wasn't alone; she also pushed Marinette to the ground as well. I gave my fellow ground buddy a small wave, but she didn't seem to see it.

"Happy Birthday Adrikins," she told him in her faux lovey voice, "Did you get the gift I sent you."

"Umm no," Adrian didn't seem to know to do with Chloé obnoxious performance.

"What! Those delivery guys! I bet it was heavy, so they had to go and get another guy to get it. Slackers!"

Okay, what was that kind of excuse was that? I got to my feet, though I guess I am going to have a bruise somewhere, I will live through it. I headed closer to the cluster of classmates that were gathering.

"I will make sure it will get too you tomorrow" She jumped into a hug before skipping off. Back up the steps to Sabrina. Adrian didn't stay too long afterwords he had to get to a photoshoot, you know typical school problems. He gave Nino a sad goodbye wave before he headed off.

"Looks like I have some business to take care of with Adrian's old man," Nino declared to himself before heading off too what I assume to Adrian's house.

"Those sound like some Akuma words if I have ever heard them," I say to myself. That was more than enough character drama that I needed for one day. I am just ready to sit down and read an excellent long book before bed.

"Oh, what am I going to do now?"

Oh, right, Marinette. Alya was comforting her friend about her failed delivery service. "You can always try to give it to him tomorrow?" Her friend told her.

"But then I will be even more of a stuttering mess. I had one chance to give him a gift, and I missed it."

Boy, no one shouldn't tell Hawkmoth that the secret to defeating his greatest enemy would be to slap a something right out of her hands.

"How about you go over to his house and drop it off," I suggested in passing

"Yeah, that's a good idea, AlyAAAAH WHEN DID YOU GET THERE," Marinette shouted, practically jumping into Ayla's arms.

"I've been there the whole time. Are you okay? That was quite a fall". For someone who didn't like gym, Chloé sure had a surprising amount of upper body strength. "Oh, thanks I am fine" She flaunted her hand down to throw away any suspicion of pain. "Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before."

"No, I have been at this school for years."

"Really I haven't seen you around."

"Marinette, we came to school at the same time."

"Haha...what?" Marinette's eyes bulged out of her head. It has appeared that she had forgotten about him again. The biggest downside of being me has to reintroduce himself to my peers. It's always a hassle, and it's really awkward.

Ayla scolded her friend, "Really, Marinette? You don't remember an old classmate. Sure it's been a while, but its still kind of rude."

"Well, I... you see. I have been here a while ... come and go ... different people," Marinette powered through multiple sentence fragments before conversing what seemed to be like a coherent message. Alya just slowly palmed her face out of pure shame.

"To be fair to Marinette, you have done the same thing, Ayla," I stated.

"What do you mean?"

"I am in your guy's class."

Both Marinette and Ayla both looked at each other, vacant of any expression.

"I'm Ned I sit in the back" I held up my hand to both of them

"Sorry, I guess I haven't been meeting my social quo this semester. Guess my blog has been cutting into my getting-to-know-other-people-time" Alya brushing off her embarrassment by shaking my hand, "Sorry about that, I will try to remember it next time."

"Yeah, next time for sure," Marinette piped, grabbing my hand a little too hard.

I would have confidence in that if it weren't for the fact this was the 2nd time I had this conversation with these two.

"Well, we are off to deliver a scar" Alya grabbed the present that was still clenched in her friend's hand and starting to drag her away. Marinette was kicking and stuttering at almost every turn. With that last set of interactions _finally_ done, I plopped my ears bud in, and start playing my walking playlist and went on my way. I don't live too far from school, but I wouldn't say it's in walking distance either. The school gets out quite early compared to the others in schools, so I had a bit of time for myself when I got back home, so I didn't mind. Plus, sitting still for so long can starve your creative mentality, and it helps think of creative prompts for what I want to write. My earbuds also help me get in that state of mind, and it eases my body into something of an autopilot mode. My mind starts thinking of potential book scenarios, but it keeps my eyes wide open and alert.

Akuma's and their master Hawkmoth pose a significant threat to us, but the Paris spirit and sense of defiance have kept us in order. Which we are doing surprisingly well, considering we all discovered that Magic is real (but no one talks about that). We still have to be cautious about the villain. His winged minions could do unspeakable horrors. One ordinary citizen can destroy all of Paris and hurt many innocent people if they feel inconvenienced.

So I don't want to think about what would happen if he would find me. Because if he did, Paris would be doomed.

About halfway home, I took a break at Place des Vosges. I usually stop here for a while after school. I usually sit in the shade and take in one of the few places of green in the city. It relaxes me, and it kind of removes all of the distractions I have in life. I sat for a while and listened to the sound of the city. After a good half an hour, I was ready to head off. But before I go, I went to get a cold drink. Today was a weirdly hot day, so I am more parched than usual. I had time to spare, so I walk around to look to see if they were any vendors in the park and if they were selling any refreshments. I know that I am not that far away from Dupain-Cheng bakery. If I remember correctly, they do indeed sell drinks with their treats, but after what happened last time, I doubt that I would be welcomed.

Then finally, I find a vendor near the other end of the park.

"Any soda for you, young man," The vendor asked as I approached them.

"Just bottled water if you please," I reach in to grab my wallet when all I hear a collective weird squirting noise. I look up, and I saw the vendor rising higher and higher in the sky encased in a green bubble.

It wasn't just him; all the adults in the area were all suddenly encased a green bubble and escalated into the sky accompanied by an outcry of troubled children and other pedestrians.

Then a voiced rain down from the heavens, "Today is your lucky day, little dudes." I looked up and saw a disordered blue face with something akin to the top of a baby bottle on its head. It laughed, shouting, "The adults have taken the day off, so make the most of it. No chores, no homework, no more nagging, just fun, fun, fun, fun, this is the Bubbler's gift to you.

'called it,' I told myself. Nino sure was determined to get that party. I guess Mr. Agreste did not agree with that vision. Though why bubbles? How did that become his go-to weapon? But I digress because I had other problems on my plate.

"Great, now I can't get my drink" It was going to be a long wait, sure I could wait for Paris's super-powered couple to save the day like they usually do, but I don't like the idea of being here for a considerable period of time. I just want to go home. I leave the park just as thirsty as I entered it. I am not too worried about this Akuma attack. Usually, Ladybug's power would undo any damage that is done by the attackers.

If I could trust that klutz to do anything, it would be to save the day, from whatever tacky supervillain Hawkmoth would send her way.

A couple of blocks away from the park, I started to hear some faint music in the distance, loud music. Someone must be having a party, but who would have one, at a time like...

oh right. Nino.

The music was coming from the Agreste Mansion, as well as several fireworks going off at once, which was quite defining. As I made my way there, I noticed some of my classmates dancing in Adrian's front yard as well and a lengthy assortment of food and drinks.

I need something to quench my thirst and a chance to socialize. I stroll in, and made headway to the food table, eyeing that neet generic orange soda. I was pouring myself a cup when I looked around and just noticed how many people are actually here. I recognize most of them as my classmates and several others, but how do I plan on talking to them? I don't even know if I have enough of charge left in my social battery to speak to anyone. Perhaps coming here was a mistake. Maybe I will just take a bite and then take off.

It was then I saw the akumatise Nino properly, and let me tell you. I have never before in my life had I ever thought I would see a cheap 90's elastic man knock off in the flesh, but here come reality giving me another headache. His different appendixes have turned into round outlines with the primary colors filling up his outfit.

But before I do anything social or comment on Nino's appearance, a slow romantic melody started to play through the loudspeakers. _Great, _now it's a slow dance.

I feel conflicted, do I give into the social stigma and find a partner or do I sit back and eat some cookies in the corner of the driveway? I am leaning towards the latter option. I don't have a lot of interest in dancing, but if I would have to choose a dance partner, there was one person I would want. I look about to see if she was nearby if only to weigh my options.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

I looked behind me, and holding a vinyl record in hand was one of Paris's guardian angel Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But the rest of the city knows her as the Miraculous Ladybug.

Yes, the clumsy girl from my class is a superhero that goes around fighting evil butterfly monsters and saving the day alongside her boyfriend Adrian Agreste, the flamboyant Chat Noir. The two have been at the superhero gig for only a couple weeks, and they are pretty good at it. And with Akuma attacks happening every other day, they are becoming more and more efficient. All the while keeping their identities and relationship is a secret. I commemorate them on their dedication to secrecy. It just looks like the two are friends if you judge them by how they act at school.

They are both do so much to save Paris all that and still finds a way to maintain a 4.0 GPA, which is impressive considering the amount of time they spend in class. I am not sure how they do it, but I give them props for their commitment to her double life and her code-switching, specifically Marinette. The difference between the two of them is almost night and day, so it's no wonder that no one has suspected her of being Ladybug. Because why would anyone think that Ladybug would be a clumsy child from some random public school?

I get ready to head out, with Ladybug here and her lucky charm activated. It could only mean that she is going to throw down. That is something that I really don't want to be caught in the middle of.

However, Ladybug seemed to have a different plan. She took her magically summoned record disk and threw it into the DJ station to change the song.

"Dude! Who just hijack my mix?"

"Your truly" Ladybug replied before jumping off the side, and out of sight. I waited for Bubbler to go after her, but he didn't seem to notice her.

_'Well, that was a thing,'_ I thought to myself. What did that accomplish? That did nothing to stop the bubbler why did she do it?

I look over at the DJ booth, and I saw something that caught my eye. As the songs were transitioning, Adrian Agreste slowly but assuredly removes Chloe's arms from his body. It looked like they had been dancing together, and Adrian was all too ready to stop.

Okay, so she was trying to stop her boyfriend/co-superhero from dancing with someone else. That makes sense. Probably not the best use of her powers but, if she and Chat Noir were truly responsible, I would never have found out their secret identities. Speaking of which, why was Adrian doing here? Shouldn't he be fighting the bubbler and saving the day as Chat Noir? Was he really desperate for a party that he will ignore the disappearance of all the adults, or did he not understand what was going on?

"I need to find a place to transform," I heard from behind me.

I look, and I see Marinette stuffing her purse with a bunch of cookies. I guess she was saving them for later? You would think that there would be more important things right now than stuffing your face.

"Where have you been a girl? I have been worried that something might have happened to you," called Ayla from the dancing scene.

"You too," Marinette hugged her friend.

I just stood there, eating the cookies that Marinette did not scoop up.

"Don't worry," Alya assured her friend Ladybug, and Chat Noir will save us. They haven't failed us before."

"Saved?" I asked, "What do you mean saved?"

"Ahhhh, when did you get there!" Marinette exclaimed, taking note of my presence.

"I have been here the whole time," I repeated

"And what do you mean saved? Can't you just leave through the big iron gates? Like the ones over there," I gestured to the exit behind me.

"It's not that simple" Ayla pointed toward Nino who was loading up the next track, "He threatened to bubble us away with our parents if we didn't come. If we don't stop partying, we are going to get bubbled again, and we are not gonna end up in someone else front lawn this time."

It was at this time I took notice of everyone's expressions. No one was happy to be here. Everyone's faces were glum and sad. Some of them were exhausted from all the dancing that they could barely lift their hands over their heads. I am not sure what I expected coming to an Akuma party, but it was still hard to process what everyone else was doing.

"Geez," I lamented. "Wait, again? You guys all bubbled here?"

"Yah, Nino got all of our classmates and other kids from the school and brought us here." She explained, "Isn't that how you got here?"

"No, he didn't. I walked here! I won't have noticed that If I haven't seen the freaking fireworks."

"Wait do you go to our school or something," Marinette questioned

"Ugghhh," I groaned into the palms of my face. I can't believe I was doing this twice in a day, to the same people. "Yes, I do, I am in the same class as the two of you. We even had this exact conversation half-an-hour ago."

Alya squinted her eyes at me as if she was trying to count all the pores on my face. Until she suddenly snapped her fingers, " Oh, that's right, you are the who told Marinette to drop off the Present at Adrian's place. Sorry about that a lot has happened in the past half-hour."

"Yeah, crazy mourning," Marinette chimed. "Sorry about that. I will... get it next time."

"Which reminds me..."Alya spun towards her clumsy friend. "I've got something to show you."

"Oh," Marinette said with a weird tone of surprise, "I actually have something to do right about now."

"It's about Adrian," She teased before walking away, past the crowded dance floor and toward the mansion.

"I uhh...okay," she sighed and started following her friend. "See you around, Ted!" she told me as she passed.

"Ned," I tried to correct her, but she already out of earshot.

I don't think its socially acceptable to run after them to correct my name. She was only off by a letter. '_Wait a minute.' A_ little thought rolled into my mind. Was I supposed to follow them, or was it just a two-of- them thing? I mean they didn't exactly tell me to come, but they also didn't tell me _not_ to come. Then again, she did say it was about her boyfriend, so it's best if I don't get wrapped up in something like that. But at the same I don...

"Oh, hey, Ned," I heard a soft voice coming from behind me.

"Ahhhh!" I yelped

"Ahhhh!" was held in response

My mind suddenly went blank, and my face started to warm. I saw the only person in the entire school that I would like to share a dance with Juleka Couffaine.

"Juleka! Sorry about that" I apologized "Didn't see you there."

"No, no it's alright, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"Yeah, that mostly my job. That I don't condom, but it just happens," I laugh, awkwardly to myself. I made a mental note, that was not funny.

"Well, you know what they say about old dogs" She tried to joke.

"What?" confused about what she just said.

"Dogs you know how they go..." Her voice just shut off for a second, she buried her face in her hand "That might have been the wrong metaphor."

"It happens to the best of us," I told her, not wanting her to feel bad about some bad joke.

It took a little bit of effort not to let my voice crack when I spoke too her. Juleka is the one person in the entire school who remembers my name consistently. Even when I am around her and talking with her, I don't feel my social energy going down. Sometimes it feels that I can talk with her forever. And to top everything off, she is gorgeous.

" Soooo you got abducted by Nino too huh," I asked running out of ideas

"Yeah, it wasn't that great. I was in the middle of listening to some music when I was taken. You?"

"Oh, me? Umm, I wasn't bubbled. I just followed the fireworks," I nodded semi-feverishly.

She raised an eyebrow, "You came here willingly? Why?"

I raised my plastic cup and gave it a little swish, "I was thirsty. That and a little bit of Fomo if I am honest."

"For a life and death situation? Doesn't seem much you are missing out on?"

"Maybe, but the cookies are delightful" I commented

"I think they're from Marinette's bakery" Juleka comment "But you should try the brownies at the end of the table, Rose says that they are pretty good."

"Really?" I eyed the other side of the table "I might take you up on that. Thanks"

"No problem" Juleka spoke in her normal low volume voice. "It's what friends do or what that's what I am told."

"Yeah . . . Friends," I nodded, the two of us just stood there for a bit. My mind was rushing, thinking of something to say. Something to brighten her day.

But before I could do that, a couple of feet away from me, Ivan was just sent up in the air, encased in a giant green bubble.

"I think I will have them to go," I stared mortified, as our classmate rose higher and higher. Suddenly the Bubbler's appearance didn't seem to weird anymore; he almost looked terrifying. Now would be the perfect time for everyone to run away, and for our two super classmates to come and save the day. But immediately the birthday boy, jump right on the stage holding a mic.

"Hay Paris, How ya doin!" He yelled, poising the microphone in the air, his hand raised dramatically.

His declaration was met with an uncomfortable silence because, of course, it was.

I was about to say a retort, but then Bubbler silently raised his bubble wand to threaten all of us, so it was drowned out by the sound of the faux celebration. How much longer is this going to go on? My ears have started to ring with the continuous cheering that everyone was doing. The smile on Adrian's face soon dropped; he seemed to notice something in the distance. "Ladybug?"

Everyone else took notice. The cries of celebration were changed to sighs of relief. "Party's over bubbler!" she announced, drawing her yo-yo making quick work of the villains DJ station.

Nino was not happy at that remark, "Why you got to be like that?".

"Because you made all the adults disappear, and now you are imprisoning anyone who isn't having fun," Ladybug declared.

During this time, I noticed Adrian slip away to hide in the crowd, meaning it was only a matter of time before Chat Noir would appear on the scene, and the situation will be dealt with. That, however, Nino is still the bubbler, and he doesn't show any signs of popping.

"You are will not bust my party!" He snarled, drawing his bubble sword, aiming at Ladybug.

This is was not going to end well. My class and I towards the Agreste mansion to take cover. We hid behind posts and pillars on the mansion steps as Ladybug and Nino started duking it out. The two charge at each other with a blast of color's red and red with black. No matter how many bubbles that Nino would throw at her, Marinette would alway counter at it with her curiously indestructible Yo-Yo.

"Poor Nino," Alya lamented. She was huddling behind the same section of the balcony as I. She appeared to be peaking over the edge, trying to get a peek at the battle. Though this time, she wasn't recording it for her blog.

"Yeah, I hear yah," I heard Ivan, the first of the akumatised, "It's not fun being an Akuma."

"Why bubbles?" I wondered out loud. I suddenly felt the glance of all my classmate's gaze upon my shoulder.

"Why is that what you're worried about?" Alya asked

I looked over at her, "What? It's a genuine question!"

"One that doesn't matter," She exasperated, "Our classmate has been taken over by a supervillain against their will, and you are questioning his aesthetics."

Well, if she puts it that way, I kind of feel like a jerk. "Well, most akumatised people have a theme to them. How do Nino and Bubbles mix?"

Alix, another girl from my class, spoke, "Dude, people like things. Some people like skating, some people like art, some people even like math. It's not that weird to assume some people like bubbles."

"That is an accurate assumption" Max popped in from the other side of the stares

"I think I am with Ned on this one," I heard Juleka say, slowly raising her hand to comment, "When I think of Nino, I don't normally think of bubbles."

"Thanks, Juleka,"

"Who the hell is Ned?" Alix asked Juleka.

I raised my hand, "I am."

"I don't think it has to be about bubbles per-say," Ivan spoke out, "I think it could just be something he was holding onto at the time."

"Well, for once, I agree with the goth girl," Chloé declared out from behind her hiding space. "The look is so tacky, the black and blue looks so wrong."

"I draw back my argument," I told the class, not wanting to be compared to Chloé. Juleka also shook her head, distancing herself from Chloé.

Then immediately, a black figure leaped over us and landed beside our clumsy hero. Chat Noir has joined the fray (and coincidently it looked like he came from the Agreste mansion) Nino then began to throw a barrage of red-bubbles at the duo, but they blocked every single one. The two worked in total sync, each one getting each stray bubble that might have hit the other. They were in perfect harmony.

"See, Nino is fine!" I told my classmates, "They got this, Nino is going to be de-akumatised any minute now. _No,_ wait, they are trapped in a bubble."

There was a collective gasp, as our heroes got caught in the swarm of bubbles and are trapped by their current nemesis.

"Give me my Miraculous before you run out of air" Nino demanded

"Dream on Bubbler!" Marinette shouted

"Total party poopers." The supervillain lamented, "Just like Adults."

"Children need adults," The hero retorted.

"False" Nino gestured to all of us "Kids need freedom fun to live it up, and Adults are Bossy."

"Adults make children safe," Marinette slammed on her green prison. "They make them feel safe! They care for their children. They Love them"

"Is this really what got him Akumatised?" I peeked over the stone pillar, listening to this cliche banter. "Seems idiotic if you ask me."

"Says the guy who complained about people not leaving through the front gate and ran and hid in the opposite direction," Ayla directed, pointing her finger in my face.

My mind went blank at that revelation. "Oh," was about the only thing my mind was able to communicate. "Yeah, this was not a smart decision."

"mmmhhm" Alya mumbled in a victorious tone. But that expression soon changed. Nino was done hanging out with our heroes. With a mighty kick, the two were sent flying in the air to join the rest of the adults.

"NO!" there was a collective cry of horror as the two heroes were sent up in the air.

"You know that looks kind of fun," I told myself. No one else seems to share my opinion.

"Now..." Nino turned and faced the rest of us "Where my boy Adrian at? We can now continue this rocken party" He quickly scanned the rest of us looking for his best bud. However, it became clear to Nino that he was not among us.

"Where is he?" He demanded.

Everyone mumbled around. It seems like they, too, had just noticed that Adrian isn't there. None of them had an answer for the villain. They did not have a clue that their friend is currently being flown 100 feet in the air.

"Where is my DUDE!"

"He probably hid in a safe Room in his house!" I yelled inconspicuously, hopefully, would get him off the backs. It would be unfortunate if they were to take his disappearance and link Chat Noir's sudden appearance. "Yeah, I don't think he is going to come out till you leave."

Nino's face sunken even lower, he was reaching his tipping point. "You know what I don't need him! Everyone gets down here and party."

"Sorry to burst your bubble" A voice called from the heavens. Marinette and the birthday boy himself re-appeared at the steps of Agreste estate. The heroes' return were met with loud applause.

"Ladybug! Ladybug! Ladybug!" They roared in defiance.

"What's wrong with you guys! Why do you have to be such haters!" The bubble man growled, and with a roar of anger, he sent a wave of green bubbles entrapping everyone they came in contact with.

Marinette and Adrian let out a scream of horror as one by one. Their friends were being picked up. I braced my self, waiting to be dragged upwards. Five seconds pass. Nothing happens. Ten seconds pass, and still, nothing happens. I peak my eyes to see what was going on.

I was not being levitated off the ground. Out of all of my classmates, I was the only one who's feet were still on the ground.

"Okay, now that's just rude."

"Outer Space is the next stop for your precious peeps" Nino turned toward his former friends "And they are never coming back!"

The three leaped up in the air to continue their climactic showdown. And I was here in an empty yard, filled with litter, a DJ set up, and food and snacks.

I wasn't quite sure what to do (which is becoming more and more of a regular thing as the day went on). Do I stay here and wait for everyone to get back, or do I head on home and see everyone at school the next day. I mean, considering how many times a classmate has been akumtised so far, it hasn't made things awkward in class. On the other hand, I am technically a guest, so it would be rude for me to leave without saying goodbye to anyone, akumatised or not.

I decided to give my self a time limit. I looked down on my watch. "If they are not back in 20 minutes, I will just excuse my self."

My stomach started to growl, might as well get something to eat while I wait. I made my way to the snack table and grabbed a plate. I put down as much food as I could and sat my self down at the steps of the mansion. Apart from being left out of the whole bubbling experience, it wasn't a bad episode of events. Sure innocent people have been taken prisoner, and Nino might be not be playing with bubbles any time soon, but at least I got some food from it.

_'That's kind of morbid,_' I thought to my self, taking a Brownie in hand. But it is hard to worry about any lasting damage when there is a mystical item in play that acts like 'command z' incarnate. So Juleka and the others should be fine, as long as Marinette and her boyfriend does there job everything will work out for the better

"Wait a minute" A wild thought just occurred to me, "Wouldn't that just send everyone back home and not here?"

The moment the words left my mouth, a flash of pink light trailed off in the sky, and swarms of red, black, and white descended on the grounds of Paris. In a blink of an eye, the brownie that was in my hand disappeared as well as all the food on my plate as well any evidence that a party was in the manner. The food, the equipment, the tables, and even the stage itself were gone in a blink of an eye. Then as quickly as they came, the trails of colors disappeared, leaving nothing behind and bringing nobody left.

"Great," I told myself, "Guess I should just get going then. Aaaand the gates are closed."

I ran toward the gate steps to check, and sure enough, they wouldn't budge. Guess when Marinette fixed everything it included the Agreste's security. The gate that usually used to keep people out was now blocking my way out. Remembering my phone, I quickly pulled it out of my pocket. Perhaps if I call someone, they can help me out, somehow. But that hopes were dashed when the dark screen on my phone refused to light up.

"Should have left earlier," I look around. Someone should be back soon. Hopefully, someone will let me out at some point. It's not like I am going the be here all night.

* * *

**Adrian**

"Adrian, are you ready for school?" Natalie asked him

"Yeah, let me grab my scarf" He called back, running through his things he quickly got out his father's gift too him. He still can't believe that his father got him such a cool present. The light blue scarf had become one of his favorite clothing items. He can't wait to show off it too his friends

"Still can't believe dad got me something this cool," He exclaimed, running down the stairs.

"Yes, well, he does care about you," Natalie told him, pushing her glasses to her face, "He wouldn't have gotten something you didn't like."

"I don't know, Natalie. This is already better than the pen he got me last year."

"I thought that pen was efficient," She mumbled softly. It seemed like she sounds almost embarrassed. This is not something Adrian had seen on Natalie too often. She always appeared to be more stoic and reasonable. But what could she have been embarrassed about?

Then there was a knock on the door.

Both Adrian and Natalie just stared at it for a moment.

"Did I have an appointment of some sort today?"

"No," Natalie looked down at her tablet to check the family schedule. "Neither does your father, he is in a skype call now."

"So who is" Adrian started to ask

"Gorilla!" Natalie gestured to Adrian's bodyguard. He stood up menacingly, and with a gnarly breath, he swung the door open with such velocity Natalie was worried that it would have damaged the oak wood. Outside was not some photographer or any one of Adrian's bizarre fans but a boy around Adrian's age, who did not look like he was happy to be here. Everything about him screamed tired, his eye had dark bags, and his brown eyes started to bulge from their overuse. But he didn't look so good he seemed to have the worst case of bed head Adrian had ever seen, his brow hair bundled up and curled around his scalp almost like a snake. The purple shit he was wearing was now covered in wrinkles and folds.

"Oh, thank goodness," he sighed, his posture giving out a little bit. "Sorry, but can I bother you for aghh" the voice was cut off by the Gorilla restricting his movement in a bear hug like motion.

"Gorilla, wait," Adrian called out. He did not want his bodyguard to kill the boy. He didn't seem to be dangerous.

"What are you doing on the premise" Natalie demanded, "And how did you get passed the gate?"

"I didn't. I came to Adrian's party, and the gate locked behind me. I wasn't able to leave."

"During the Bubbler's attack? That was over 12 hours ago." Adrian said while adjusting his scarf.

"If that were true, why were you not sent back when Ladybug won?" Natalie asked, "Everything displaced should have returned to normal."

"You would think, but apparently I found a magic loophole in Ladybugs's magic" He shrugged, or tried too while in the grip of Gorilla. "Can you put me down now?"

Gorilla begrudgingly put the boy down. He then walked by the balcony on the steps and grabbed a backpack that was sitting in the corner. And he picked up a striped jacket that was laid out in front of it. Adrian then realized that it was a makeshift pillow and blanket

"You slept out here?" Adrian gasped, "Through the whole night?"

"Yeah," His voiced kind of drooped "Don't worry, it wasn't the worst night of sleep I ever had. Really comfy stares you got."

"If you were here for so long, why is this the first time we are hearing about this?" Natalie questioned the boy, "Couldn't you have notified us beforehand that you were unable to leave the mansion grounds?"

"I have been knocking on the door all night. I stopped around 8 pm, though," He admitted.

Adrian looked at Natalie, and they both came to an understanding. Adrian was up in his room after his birthday dinner and only spent the rest of the day back in his room. Natalie was assisting his father throughout the night with some business management. And with the house so big, there was no way for either one of them to hear. Gorilla, on the other hand, was up in his "hut," Managing the security.

"And I didn't want to walk through your side yard. I felt like I was trespassing enough. Also, my phone is dead so ... yeah," He let out a yawn when he was done telling his story.

"Don't we have a state of the art security system for this kind of thing?" Adrian Question to his father's assistant, "How did this happen?"

"Good question, Gorilla?" Natalie Wondered, "Is there a reason why this boy did not show up on our security radar last night."

The bodyguard just shrugged just as confused as the rest of them. He didn't seem to have an answer for them.

"It seems that we have a hole in security" Natale took out her tablet to make a not of it. "Do you have someone to call to let them know your situation?"

"Yeah, I will let my parents now when I get to school," he assured her, "They had a busy night, so I doubt that they noticed I was gone."

"Well I hope your night wasn't too bad," Adrian told the guy

He let out a big sighed "At least I finished the assignment" He showed the book he was reading, _Elegance of the Hedgehog_. Adrian took a second to look at the book. '

"That book," He asked, "Do you go to Dupont too?"

"Yeah, I am in your class actually" He corrected

"Really?" Adrian was surprised. He usually is good at learning people's names. He often never forgets a face, how could he? He was trained, not too. "I don't remember meeting you."

"It happens, I don't tend to socialize too much" He shrugged his shoulders then reached out his hand. "I'm Ned. I sit in the back."

"Adrian," He replied, shaking his hand. "I sit in the front."

"I umm was going to ask for a ride home, but uhh, can you give me a ride to school instead?" Ned asked a little bit embarrassed over the whole thing.

Adrian looked at Natalie, who was still a little dumbstruck by this entire situation, but she gave her usual stoic nod of approval. "This is quite an unusual situation, but we will manage" She gestured to Gorilla to get the limousine out. "In the meantime, I am going to have to speak with your father about this hole in our security.

"Thank you," Ned apologized, "sorry about this whole mess."

Natalie gave a simple nod, acknowledging his remark before going back through the front door. Gorilla quickly brought the car around. Gorilla up and held the door open for Adrian to get in. Adrian let Ned go in first, considering he was technically a guest.

"So... Happy Belated Birthday," Ned awkwardly sated as the car started to get going.

"Thanks," Adrian, a smile on his face. "It was an eventful one."

"I bet," said ned, as he strapped on his buckles, he then looked down and saw the scarf that Adrian had around his neck. "Neat scarf!"

"Yeah!" Adrian practically glowed with how much his father's gift made him. "My dad gave it to me, the best gift he has given me in years."

"Your dad gave that to you?" Ned raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, is there something wrong about that?" Adrian got a little defensive about his scarf. "I know its not a traditional Father-Son gift, but it means a lot to me." He wasn't going to let something get him because it wasn't conventional.

"Sorry, sorry, I just thought that it was from..." Ned's voice trailed off. He didn't seem to want to continue that thought. A quick look of panic went over his face like he just revealed a friend's dark secret. It could have been Adrian's imagination, but it looked like he glanced over at Gorilla for a sec." Never mind, forget about it. I misspoke"

_'That was an odd reaction.' _Thought Adrian, it was something Marinette would have done. He must have similar social anxiety as her. Adrian wasn't going to hold it over him, though. It wasn't fair.

"No problem," Adrian clarified. "It's all good."

"Thanks," Ned let out a deep breath, he seemed to calm down a bit. That was good; the last thing Adrian wanted was to make someone's life uncomfortable over a misunderstanding.

"Oh, before I forget," Ned asked as Gorilla pulled up to the school, "You are friends with Nino, right?"

"Yeah, he is my best friend why?"

"What is his deal with bubbles?"

* * *


	2. Flimsy Connection

School really does takes a lot out of me sometimes. I was not so much bothered by the material that they had given. And I wasn't upset at the constant number of people who I have known for years keep forgetting about me. But sometimes I need time too clear my head of it all. Today was a good day for it too, classes finished early, mom and dad are working late tonight and my siblings are off hanging out with friends. So I had a little more free time than normal today. Days like these I find myself walking around the city, going to different locations to sit and relax. Today, I sit under the bridge not that far from the school. It wasn't the most scenic view of the city. Bu the area was nice, calm, and serene. The perfect place to eat my sandwich and care nothing about the world. No people, no monsters, no hawkmoth, and no friends that turn into super-heroes who disguise themselves by hiding their cheekbones. Just me and my sandwich

Which was true before Alya and Nino crashing into my seat.

I didn't even hear them come in they just crashed into the bench next to me. They were excited about something, so much so that they didn't seem to notice that I was sitting next too them. That was kind of normal so I kind of shrugged and started taking a bite into my food. I tried not to pay much attention to what they were talking about. But being the eavesdropper I am, I didn't have much of a choice.

"Where is that girl. She's never showing up" Alya groaned in frustration. Putting her phone away.

"Tell me about it" Nino complained. "It's just like my boy Adrian"

'_Boy, I wonder why_' I took a bite into my sandwich. It was a pretty good one, a good amount of cheese and I couldn't taste the bread all that well.

"I think I know who Ladybug is" Alya exclaimed

"Really?" Nino gasped

"What?" I did a mental spit take, almost choking on my meet in my sandwich.

"Ahh! when did you get here," Both Nino and Ayla said at the same time

"I have been here for a while," I told them, rubbing the remaining bread crumbs off my face. "So you figured out Ayla? Their identities?"

"I sure did. Who are you again ?"Alya's journalistic energy seemed to deplete at that last sentence. "Yeah dude, double that"

"I am Ned, I sit in the back," I told her I offered my hand in honor of the reintroduction. Both Nino and Alya shooked my hand, both still in shock by my sudden appearance of being here. Alya was still trying to remember who I was. even while she shook my hand I could see all the gears turning in her mind.

"Right! We met at Adrian's Party a while back" She was talking about the Bubbler party. Where everyone got trapped by bubbles except for me. And I spent the night in Adrian's driveway. Fun times.

"No first day of school" I corrected her, "But you were closer than last time."

"hehe sorry" She smiled scratching the back of her head. Nino, but, did not seem to be buying my story, for whatever reason.

"I don't believe it," He said "I would now if another dude was in my class, let alone one who has been it for years"

"Really?" I asked. "Would you like me to prove by telling Alya about what happened at the school dance two years ago with the dip and dots?"

"Oh yeah, Brad right?" Nino said changing his tune about the whole thing.

"Ned" I corrected him "So what is up? You know who ladybug is."

Yeah," Sat up straight and gestured for the two of them to lean in. Alya checked the surroundings between them as if to see if there were any other onlookers. Though I seemed to hide it well, I was a bit worried. From what I have learned of Alya, she is headstrong and determined, and with her search for the truth. If she has indeed discovered Marinnetes and Adrian's identity then it would be hard to throw her off. It would be difficult but if it would save the city I will do whatever it takes to help.

"Its Chloe"

Then again, I don't think I have to try that hard.

Nino laughed at that remark, uncontrollable even. Alya was not happy with that and persistent laughter. "I am serious"

"No way," Nino resigning from his laughter "She was too self-centered"

This is true, no one was worse in this school then the mayor's daughter. She treated the world around her like it was her own as if she confused her placement in the city as her fathers. Her entire body was fueled on the vanity if she was ladybug hawkmoth would have gotten with a snap of his. How Alya got to this point confused me there was no way anyone could believe that Chloé is Ladybug. What kind of wild goose chase of misinformation did Alya make to get to that conclusion?

_'Wait, Goose chase? Misinformation? Conclusion'_

An Idea popped in my head. One to fuel the fire of this critical thinking travesty.

"Wait a minute Alya might be on to something."

Both of them looked at me, Nino gave me a confused look and Alya gave Nino a smugged work.

"Chloe as Ladybug? That outrageous she is so mean and so unheroic like" Nino tried to explain to the two of them.

_'I know but its better than having Alya discovering the real ladybug.'_ I told myself." But that could be a ruse"

"A ruse?" Both Alya and Nino said at the same time.

"Like she could be acting like this so that no-one would suspect it" I explained. "Like how no one suspects Clark Kent is Superman since he is a clumsy oaf in the office. So no one thinks twice about the fact he looks like that of Superman without his glasses"

"See Tad gets it" She teased Nino.

"Ned" I corrected

"Ned Gets it."

"Huh, never thought about it like that" Nino said scratching his head. "Though it does make sense. I mean I hate it and it feels wrong, but it makes sense"

"So" I clapped my hands, I had successfully left Alya on a wild goose chase now it was time to see where it goes. "What will you do now? Expose her?"

"Of course," Alya said, pulling out her phone again. "Do you know how famous I would be if I unmask Ladybug. The ladybug blog will be a legit new source"

"That's your goal?" I asked raising an eyebrow, "Making a news network based entirely on the livelihood of one person?"

"Yep," Alaya held her book up as if it was her bible. "And I have a plan"

She filled us in on what her plan was the next day. I agreed to help if only to pursue this madness to its most believable end. I was not as nieve as Alya. For whatever reason, both Marinette and Adrian kept their superhero side jobs a secret they did so for a reason. The two seemed like good people so its only natural for me to play my part. If that meant confusing Alya and possibly embarrassing her, its a risk I am willing to take.

So when the next day came the three of us met up at school lockerroom. And after a brief re-introduction, Alya began to discuss her plan. Apparently, one part of it involved Marinette but when the first period came and went she was nowhere to be found.

"I really shouldn't be surprised" Alya complained to herself. "But she really should manage her time better"

"I know its weird, she wasn't like this last year." Nino complained "She has changed"

"Really? I thought she was always this way," Alya told him

"Oh, right I forgot that your new here. But yeah for as long as I have known Marinette she has been weird, but also punctual"

"Huh, so what changed"

This is where I stepped in. "Well, she has always been clumsy and out of place. My guess is that the stress of this school is finally getting to her."

Nino nodded along to that train of thought. "Sounds about right. So Al what's the plan?"

"Don't call me Al?" She told him before going over the plan. Basically, both Nino and I were supposed to distract Chloé when gets too her Locker. Alya was going to get some pictures of her locker that supposedly had the Ladybug costume. She would then publish it then something about being famous.

"But isn't this an invasion of privacy," I asked Alya when she was going over the plan. "Isn't there a risk of us getting into trouble?"

"No, you will be fine, look here she comes now" She pointed, and sure enough the princess of Paris came strolling in like she owned the place. And we headed tword her locker. I thought about what should be done. We should probably talk to her for a bit. Then jam something in the locker so when Chloé would leave Alya would still be able to open it and get whatever "evidence" she needed. To do this I would have to engage with Chloé in a subject of her own nature, her worst nature. Fashion.

But Nino had a different plan altogether, "Hey Look its Ladbyug over there"

He pointed at the other side of the locker room. Meanwhile, Alya crouched around, tried to take a picture for her article. Not the worst execution of the plan. I wished I was incorporated in it more. That and if it had better execution.

"At what?" Chloe asked already annoyed. Noticing the lack of Ladybug in the locker "What kind of joke are you pulling"

Case and point.

"Well, I ..." Nino started to fumble his words. " I mean did you see Ladybug on the news yesterday isn't she amazing. I wonder who she is?"

After a few seconds of annoying silence. Chloé returned to what she was doing. Only giving Nino a passing remark as she went along.

"Stayed up too late DJing Nino? Obviously, you didn't get your beauty sleep."

Alya at this point had made her way through the locker room. Her phone raised and ready to take a picture. I guess she saw her chance to take a picture with Chloé distracted. But what she didn't realize that everyone else in the lockerroom had now focused on Chloé and Nino.

Now, this is where my plan comes into play. My entire goal here is to throw suspicion off of Marinette and Adrian. So having a scapegoat, or find some way to throw off suspicion of the two would be ideal. Since Alya is so focused on Chloé right now, it will distract her from the fact that Marinette and Adrian have stopped coming to First Period. However, for my plan to work, I need to keep the attention on Chloé. For that Alya, can't find evidence to the contrary.

Like figuring out that what Chloé has in her locker is not a legitimate ladybug outfit. And any high res photo could find the made in china logo on the yoyo, so Alya can't have the photos for long. I only know about Chloé's secret about being a fangirl, since both she and Sabrina openly talk about it when I am nearby. As well, as Chloé practices her Yo-Yo tricks When no one is looking.

With Alya closing in, I gave Sabrina a little nudge, alerting her to Alya's actions.

"Hey, Chloé! Alya's looking in your locker!" Ponting her finger at Alya whop had just

Alya went on the defensive "That's a lie!" She backed away, she seemed to be heading word the locker room, hoping to get a clean getaway. However, Kim, ever loyal Chloe for some reason, stopped her in advance and grabbed the phone out her hand. "Hey give it back!"

Kim grabbed the phone and handed it to Chloe who proceeded to swipe through Alya's pictures till she came to the right ones. A cruel smile came over Chloés face, and she shoved the phone in Alya's face with one picture on the scream

"Who's lying now?" Chloé teased

_'Don't worry Alya'_ I told myself. _'My plan doesn't end with you in detention'_

Immediately after seeing the photo's the group made their way to the Principle. The owl looking man has been running the school ever since I first came here. His resting scowl and demeanor make students fall in line. So after Chloé dragged Alya in front of him, I was sure that he would certainly do the right thing. I think...

"We have proof!' She scrolled through the photos that Alya.

"What's so special about the back of someone's head?" The principal asked.

"What?" She looked and sure enough, someone's full head of hair blocked the entirety of the camera's view. I sighed a sigh of relief, my plan was a success after all. When Chloé wasn't looking I took the phone and deleted all the pictures, and the only ones left were the photos of my head.

"They're gone!" Chloé exclaimed

"That's impossible we all saw the photo!" Said, Sabrina "Did you delete it on accident?"

Chloé growled at her friend, but she still seemed to be confused by the whole thing. Alya was no less confused than the other two. I leaned back and smiled a bit. Once again I have saved Marinette and Company. Alyá is out of trouble, and her suspicion is still on Chloé.

"Regardless, I still want her punished" Chloé slammed her fist and pointed at Alya.

"I'm Sorry Chloé," The principal told her "But even if there was a case, there is no School Policy on an invasion of privacy"

"Then breaking and entering," Chloé demanded

"I didn't break into anything. The locker was already open. Can I go? I don't think I did anything wrong here. There is no proof that I took a picture."

"Wait." I raised my hand "Are we just going to skim over the fact that this School doesn't have a policy on an invasion of privacy? Because that is a huge problem."

Chloé flinched hard almost dropping her phone. "Excuse me who are you? What are you doing here"

"I'm Ned. I am your classmate. I sit in the back" I said to her.

Both Chloé both exchange look of absolute confusion. Then Mr. Damoclease stood up, "Mr. Sécrin, do I have to remind you again about coming into the office unannounced"

"But sir I didn't, I came in with the rest of them," I defended myself.

"Oh," The principle looked slightly embarrassed. "Very well then. Was anything Stolen from the locker?"

Chloé went back to her drama self. "Only my very soul! My locker is my secret garden! He who enters uninvited burglarizes my inner being and steals my life force!"

She then broke down to alligator tears, sobbing very hard on the principles desk. Mr. Damocleas looked very uncomfortable as this was happening, he looked at the other kids in the room. I think he was wondering if one of us was going to comfort her or get her to stop. We all knew she wasn't really crying but I didn't think Chloé or even Sabrina knew that, but they wanted us to play along.

"But can we have a discussion on invasion of privacy rules in this school?" I asked, "I feel like that could be a ticking time bomb."

"Do you have something in mind Mr. Sécrin? I am all ears" The principle asked now ignoring the girl sobbing at his desk.

"Well, what about posting another student picture on social media for one thing?" I asked.

The principle stroked his beard, thinking about the conversation. "Hmmm, I suppose that does sound reasonable" The principle stroked his beard. "Then how would we implement this rule?"

"Well, I..." I started to ask. Normally conversations with staff don't go on this long. So my words had begun to flub a little.

"Is this really the time to be doing this?" Sabrina asked "Poor chloé been traumatized by this whole ordeal."

"Why because no one is talking about her in the past 5 seconds" Alya joked

"Says the one who is obsessed about a blog" Kim commented "I bet you couldn't go 5 days without uploading to it"

"Ha! I can do it in 10" Alya shouted back.

"Everyone please calm down" The principle shouted over everyone. As the commotion started to rise up.

"Not until there is justice for Chloé" Sabrina answered

"It's not that big of a deal" Alya answered

"Your just jealous about how pretty she is" Kim Yelled back

"Children please"

"Wait, wasn't Nino with us?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH" Chloé screamed out. Shutting us all up, then the next thing I knew Kim Sabrina and I were all shoved outside the principals. Chloé had kicked us out of the principal's office, well at least I was included in that whole thing. "Huh, Chloé is stronger than she looks. Welp sees you guys..." The two just shook it off and walked right past me. "Later" That was disappointing, well at least I contributed to a conversation today, that's something. I head back to class but then all of a sudden, something yet again slammed against me.

"Oh, Sorry" I looked up and saw Marinette herself. Running in with bread in her mouth. Running through the halls before quickly running through the classroom doors. She seemed to be in a rush. I took out my phone and checked, and I was 30 minutes into the first period of the day!

Ah, great at this point I should wait an hour and join in the next period. I don't want to walk into class late, all those eyes on me will be like scratches on a whiteboard. So I hang around and wait for the next period. I already know about what they are going to talk about anyway, as we will be talking about the last couple of chapters of Elegance of the Hedgehog and all that. Now would be a good time for me to continue reading the new Starcross novel. I make my way to the library to do some reading when the principal door slammed open right into my face.

I grimaced in pain. I grabbed my noes in reflex, trying the contain the pain. Slowly but triumphantly Chloé struts out like she is the queen of the world. That cant be a good sign. Then behind her, Alya emerged her face now teary-eyed. Mummering something about a supervillain and ran off. I withdraw my hand from my nose. It was now bleeding, _'That was just great'_ I should go to the Nurse's office but Alya seemed to be upset. I don't know how to handle that. Should I comfort her? Ask her what's wrong? Or should I just walk by her? We are not good friends, but we have become acquainted slightly, but at the same time, this entire scheme this mourning left me drained.

But before I could make my ultimatum she was already gone. Out the school door, to who knows where.

At this point, I headed straight to the library. While I did feel bad for Alya, I don't exactly know where she is going. So chasing after her would be a futile effort. And in my experience when people cry, I should let them.

But still, it weighed on my mind when I entered the library hall. The school had quite the selection, two stories of books both academic non-fiction as well as fiction book lined the shelves. There were a couple of computers here for those needing to research as it accessed various research databases. It was my favorite place on campus because a lot of the time it's pretty quiet.

I sat down, at the chair, and took the new Starcross novel out from my bag. I took out my phone, to see how much time until the next class was up, but something was off. I had a video pulled up, with what seemed to be like the Alya in a black mask.

"I'm Lady Wifi, revealer of the truth!"

Oh this cannot be good

Then she moved aside, to revealing Mr. Damocleas who is slightly uncomfortable standing next to a supervillain. Clearly, Alya was vulnerable after the principal visit.

"For our first exposé, your principal would like to share a little tidbit with you. So, Mr. Damocles, is it true you wrongly suspended a student named Alya today?"

There it is.

The old man lowered his head "Yes, it is."

Lady wifi, looked down on the old man, with a gleeful smile. "So, you were biased? Unfair? Totally unjust"

Principle continued to not look at the camera, ashamed. "Yes, I was"

Then, as soon as he finished those things, she walked in front of the class, with such a degree of confidence. "For my next scoop, I'll be taking you to meet the girl who's been hiding behind the Ladybug mask!" She then turned around, and pulled out her phone and swiped her finger forward. Sending a neon pink symbol at the old man. He flinched and stayed that way with a video pause icon hovering in front of him. And the video ended.

I then hear a bunch of mumbled screaming, coming from outside. I got out of my chair and looked through the window. Everyone, staff, and students alike were running outside the classrooms all in a mad panic.

"Well, I guessed that school is canceled today" I grabbed my things and headed off. I wasn't going to spend any more time in school then I don't already have to. I passed by a couple of faces as I passed by, waved a Juleka when she ran by. Saw Adrian enters the boy locker room and coincidentally Chat noir jumping out the school window. Otherwise, I headed home. I didn't stop at the park this time, I felt like sitting in an air condition room and sleep after I do my school work of course. I plopped in my earbuds, deciding to listen to some Jagged Stone for the time being, and I headed back home.

On my way back home, I noticed a Chat Noir sitting on the roof of one of the buildings, shortly joined by another red-figure. Our heroic lovebirds have arrived, and Alya is going after Chloé so I doubt that anyone would get hurt. Marinette and Adrian are bound to save her if stuff gets in trouble. The way I see it, by tomorrow mourning Alya would be back to her regular self in no time. Hopefully, Alya would still somehow convinced that Ladybug and Chloe are the same people. That would be the most ideal also it would be a bit hilarious to watch. It might be challenging but if...

"Oof"

"Oh, sorry man"

I let the vision get ahead of me, so much so that I didn't notice that Nino was right in front of me until I collided. I kind of knocked the headphones off his head, that luckily didn't break when the landed on the ground.

"Oh, sorry Nino" I reached down and grabbed them for him.

"Its no problem," He said taking the headset out of my, "uhhhhhh"

"Ned, I sit in the back" I reminded him. "I helped you with Alya's thing this mourning"

"Right right" He scratched his head, "Crazy day today isn't it. Do you think she is going to be alright"

"I think Chloe would be fine," I told him.

"No not Chloe" Nino corrected, "Well, yes Chloe but I was talking about Alya"

"Alya?" I asked, "You are concerned for the Akumatised?"

"Yeah, she is not a bad person Red" Nino defended

"Its Ned and I am well aware. But she will back to normal after she been de-evilised right?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah you are right" He added, a bit of color was being added to his face "It's no fun being an Akuma you know."

"I guess," I told him "But Ladybugs Yoyo fixes all the damages the Akuma does" Some exceptions of course, like me in Adrian yard. But that was due to bad planning than anything.

"Yeah" Nino looked down at his phone, staring at the wifi signal. "I guess your right Ted"

'_I literally told you my name was Ned'_ I thought to myself, but I didn't express them. I smiled at him and we parted ways.

It was a bit of a walk, but I Made it back. Like most places in the city, I don't live in a single-story house, but an apartment building but each room might as well have been a house itself. It was a big building, and each individual apartment was comfortable and spacious. The place was no Le Grand Paris by a longshot, but it had similar charms. I made my way to the elevators inside and went up to my apartment. After opening the door I b-lined straight to my bed and took a nap because what else was I going to do, for the next couple of hours. Granted it was about noon, so I want to sleep for too, long so I set my timer for about 40 minutes.

I was enjoying my nap for while it lasted until a voice spoke out of now "Everyone! thinks the girl beneath the Ladybug costume is a little angel." I shot up with a start, what on earth was going on. I see a bright light in the corner of the room, I get up and see that my phone is on and playing a video of some sorts. Chloé was tied up in her ladybug cosplay and Alya seemed to be trapping her in some pink neon light wearing some black onesie with a mask.

"That's right she was Akumatized earlier" I reminded myself.

"Think again, people! The real Ladybug is... Chloé Bourgeois, everyone!" She presented with a triumph.

I sighed, the last parts of my plan were now in pieces. It was exhausting enough to keep Alya off of Marinette's and Adrian's tracks but also convince her that it was Chloé. Now he is back at square one because any second now the Dynamic Duo will come crashing in to save her.

And speaking of the Moth, here they are. The two crashed in through the window, much to the confusion of the Lady Wifi.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Lady wifi asked, not quite grasping the concept that she was wrong.

Both Marinette and Adrian look at each other. The pieces finally fell into place for the young girl. "But I thought, Errrr" she growled before cutting off the screen.

I stare down my blank phone. 'So that happened, I guess I should get back to work'

And I take out a notebook, looking over the notes from 'Eulogy of the Hedgehog' making sure they were in order. If memory serves right, a test was coming up and I needed to be sure. Though I already trust what I had up in my head. 'Perhaps I should think of another scapegoat to use' I asked myself, while I worked. With Alya now knowing that Chloe is not Ladybug she is still going to be on the hunt for the truth. 'Maybe she would belive its Sabrina or Rose?' I mean she already bought that it was Chloé so what else could it be.

*Ring Ring* a sound bursting through my room *Ring Ring*

The phone was ringing in the other room. I stopped my studying progress and made my way over the living room and picked up the last landline phone in the country. "Hello?"

"Hi Ned it's your doctor mom here"

I gave a short sigh. "What's up mom?"

"Just letting you know that it's going to be another late night here in the Hospital. The wifi is down and everything is grinding to a fault. And your father is having similar trouble back in the university"

"So it's no different than any other nights before?" I answered

"Now don't be like that" Mom reminded me. "Your father left some food in the fridge. We know how much you like meatloaf"

"Thanks, mom," I said half-heartedly. "You want me to save any slices for the other occupants in this house?"

"No, no you are both out there making the world a better place with their gifts. They will be coming home tonight"

'Of course, they aren't' I thought to myself.

"Anyway, how was school today? I got a message from the school that you didn't show up for the first period today"

"I was with the principle," I told her. "One of my friends got in trouble and I got dragged along."

"What did you do?" My mom told me, her voice started to get stern.

"I just said. I did nothing" I started saying before it got cut off.

"Do you know how many times your sister was sent to the office when she was in school? None you better..." her voice trailed off. I wasn't in any mood to listen to my mother lecture to me about things that were outside of my control. It was normal, our talks would go very well until my siblings got involved. It was fine, I was used to it. Then all a sudden my phone started to buzz. I looked it over and saw a video of Marinette fighting Alya who was still akumatised.

"I am going to have to call you back," I told my mom.

The two had engaged, in combat but now Ladybug had found herself being restrained.

"Who is Ladybug? Is she a superhero or a super-weirdo?" She asked the audience, moving forward to the captured superhero.

This was bad. As much as I believed that Ladybug and Chat noir their entire endeavor would be pointless if Hawkmoth or the entire world would learn their identity. They could fight on, but that would be bad. But there has to be a way around this. I had to do something, it was the least I could do. In the short time since the video started, I quickly tried to find a way to defeat Alya. Her main thing is the internet, so and from what I have seen so far that is how she is projecting herself onto my phone. So there has to be a way to knock out the wifi in the area. It might disable some of her powers, or at the very least would stop Alya from Marinette's unmasking.

'The roof!' I thought. My building had a new wifi tower installed today, that gave the entire block wifi. If I was able to somehow block it or destroy it, people's will not be ceptible to Alya's powers. And Marinette's secret would be safe. So at that point, I know what I needed to do. I needed to destroy my wifi tower.

I grabbed my coat and ran out into the hallway. Hopefully, I would be able to stop the Alya in time.

"How can we trust the girl when we have no idea who she really is? We have the right to know!" And she reached down and grabbed Marinette's Mask and pulled.

And nothing happened. Alya tried again, but the mask was stuck in. It was like the mask was glued to Marinette's face. I gave a short sight of relief, her secret was still safe.

Alya was not having it, she growled: "Uggh Why doesn't it come off!?"

"Magic duh," Marinette said.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," I told myself. Her powers were mythical in nature so I guess it makes sense that her costume would be bound to her the same way.

'I guess I overreacted a bit' I thought to myself. And yeah the more I thought about it to myself the less and less sense it made. Like why would I destroy my own wifi tower? Like that is a crime, and it would have been hard for me to finish my science homework. I need those PowerPoint slides.

I shook my head as I walked back to my room. Laughing at my almost-life altering decision. I think I need another nap.

I grab the door nob, it wouldn't budge

I turned again, and still nothing

The door was locked.

I fidgeted my pockets trying to find the key. And after checking each pocket three different times, I realize that in my rush to destroy the wifi tower, I left the keys inside and locked myself out.

I let out a big sigh, this was going to be another long night.

* * *

The next day was a wreck. I wasn't able to sleep or get back inside until the next day. Apparently, the neighbors across the hall who had the backup keys were also working late and the landlord didn't pick up her phone. So I spent the entire evening in the hallway 10 feet away from where I could sleep. When it appeared that it was mourning, I left with all the stuff I had in my pockets, which was a pen and a dead phone and headed to school.

I was slow and sluggish, I had no energy left for anything and school was going to be a bore. I won't have a paper or notes so now I will have to go off from the teachers would say and hope it would stick.

As I made my way back to school I noticed Alya and Marinette in the distance and she was no longer Lady wifi so that meant that (to no one's surprise) Ladybug and Chat Noir had won the day. My phone died shortly after I left the room, so I wasn't able to see how the fight ended, I heard a couple of declarations outside but I get a good enough look at them.

I gave Alya a wave as I walked by, the school entrance. She saw me, and she walked straight past me, not seeing me go by. Then Alya stopped for a moment, confusing Marinette who was still right beside "Wait a minute, Oh hey Ted!"

I froze for a second. I am not used to people calling me out like that. Even if it is by the wrong name. I looked behind me, perhaps she actually knows someone named Ted who is behind me. But nope, it was me.

"Oh, Hi Alya what is up?" I asked stagnantly.

"Well I guess I have to apologize for everything that happened Yesterday," She said scratching her head. "I kinda went off the rails."

"For what thinking that Chloé can be Ladybug, the elaborate plan to get evidence or getting the akumtised?" I asked

"I guess it was a little foolish for thinking that Chloe could be Ladybug." She rubbed her head awkwardly "But I wasn't the only one who fell for it though" She nudged my shoulders. "You jumped the hype train pretty fast though didn't you"

My face went a bit red. "Hey, I will admit it. I guess I am no better than you guys." I admit that my plan, went a little hectic then I wanted. But everything went back to normal, and still, no one is close to figuring out the love birds' secret identity. And my hot-headedness did get me locked out of my own house and running on fumes.

"So do you have any idea on who Ladybug is now," I asked. "Any more schemes you need help with?"

"Not really," Alya asked. "I mean, Chloé was my only lead and I went off the tracks. Man, I don't even know if she goes to this school or not."

"Yeah" Marinette interrupts sporadically "She and ladybug can be anyone! Like janitor, or a music teacher or a school bus"

Before anyone could answer or respond to the bell rang. Classes had started.

"Oh, that's the bell." Alya noted "See you around Ted me and Marinette gotta head to class"

And before I could remind her that my name was Ned, and I was in their class they both bolted off. Leaving me behind me in the dust.


	3. Illustrating the Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group projects have always been weird for Ned. This time was no different

**Chapter 3**

**Illustrating the point**

* * *

Ah, science, the most redundant class in the whole school. Where chemistry, biology, physics, and forensics were all tied up in one class, at the same time. Was it an efficient way to teach the subjects, no. Did it hamper students from learnings the complex understandings of the world? Yes. Did I care? No, not really. This class has always felt longer than the others. It's not that I don't like the subjects or that I am getting bad grades in the class(As far as I know, my progress report has never been updated) but its teacher. Ms. Mendeleiev was far from my favorite teacher in the school. She was blunt direct and aggressive towards her students. and had a track record with embarrassing her students.

"Nathanial" She yelled, jerking me out of my daydreaming. "Are you drawing?"

_'Case and point'_

I looked a couple of tables down and I saw Ms. Mendeleiv grabbed the paper of one of my classmates Nathanial. And precise to berate him in front of the entire class. "This kind of Artistic endeavors is why you are failing science!"

I clenched my fist a little bit, listening to her. It's bad enough that you are berating his artistic talents, but you are belittling him in front of the class is quite annoying. I am not exactly close with Nathanial, we share a desk. But he doesn't need to have his problems flaunt across the classroom for his failings.

She sent him on his way, off to the principal's office. Then something happened that made this whole situation went from irritating to uncomfortable. As he was leaving the room, he didn't realize what I did when I came into class late. Myle's bag stooped in the middle of the aisle, and he fell and landed face-first into the floor. Everything he had flown across the floor, including his draw book which landed right in front of Chloé feet.

"Oh, no," I told myself.

As his deskmate, I am more than aware of the drawing he does from time to time. Making his own OC, superhero, him flying around and saving the damsel in distress. His drawing, from what I can understand, was the closest thing he had to a diary. Which in the hands of Chloe could be disastrous, as every nit-pick from her was like a brick in the face. Everyone else looked down at the book and all gasped at the same time.

"That's a bit rude," I said to myself not knowing what the big deal was. 'His drawings are not that bad'

"Ooh! Look, Sabrina! It's him as a superhero!" Chloe said picking up the artist's book "And look who he's saving! It's Marinette!"

'Come again?' I leaned in trying to get a better look at the drawing from over Chloe's shoulder. I couldn't see much from 2 tables behind her, but looking back at the drafts I have seen him draw, they do kinda look lite Marinette the more I thought of it. But why would he be drawing Marinette?

"He's so totally crushing on you, Marinette" Chloe announced to the whole class. Nathaniel blushed hard he gave one glance at Marinette before being moved out of the room our science teacher.

"Huh" Was my only response to that whole ordeal. _'Marinette has a secret admirer' _I never saw that coming. I quickly looked over at her boyfriend to see how he was taking it in. The boy model seemed to be taking things quite well. Aside from being surprised he didn't seem to have any other reaction to the whole thing. Adrian never seemed to be the jealous type even with his charade as Chat Noir, it didn't seem to be in his nature so I shouldn't be too surprised. Still, it must be at least somewhat awkward for him to learn that someone is crushing on your secret girlfriend.

_'Poor boy' _My mind returned to Nathaniel. It must be hard to be in love with someone who doesn't see you in the same way.

"Alright, class!" Ms. Mendeleive announced "It's time to start your particle presentation projects. For this assignment, I am going to put you all in groups"

_'Oh I hope I am with Juleka'_ Was my mind's immediate response. I looked over to her, at the far end of the classroom from me. Juleka was also doing her best to be attentive during this class session, she was overexerting herself to look awake by exaggerating her eyes and nodding at a slightly than normal pace. It was actually very cute and adorable. I can't really explain it but I feel different when I am around her, there is just something about her that makes me just want to talk to her. Not in a flirty chat noir kind of way but just in a kind of anything goes kinda way.

"The first group will be Alix, Ruby, and Juleka"

_'Well, that sucks'_

"Kim, Ivan, and Mylène will be the other group" She continued rattling off her list of names. "The next particle physics presentation group is Nino Adrien and Alya. And then, Sabrina, Chloé, and Marinette" Quite a commotion was caused by the later announcement. Marinette was upset, of course, no one in their right minds would want to be paired up with Chloe. What did catch my attention is that once again she didn't put me into a group. This put me in an interesting predicament. Either I can call attention to myself, or I can work on the project alone and turn it, and have it marked as late for no reason. Both were two equally realistic and desirable outcomes. But before I could do anything a small voice called through the classroom.

"Ms. Mendeleiv?" Juleka asked raising her hand.

"What is it Juleka?"

"Umm yeah, you kinda forgot someone"

She blinked and looked over her notes. "No, that cant be. I called your name first" She responded mistakenly believing that Juleka was referring to herself.

"No, you forgot Ned" She replied in a smaller voice.

While apart of me braced for the upcoming eye's coming on me. I couldn't help but smile underneath my sweat. Juleka is the only person that actually had made an effort and remembered not only my name but got to know me. She was my first friend I had in a long time.

Shame that did not pass on to the rest of the school "Ned Who?"

I raised my hand and in a very meek voice, I squeaked. "Me, I am"

Rose, who was sitting next to me the entire period jumped out of her seat when I spoke. A couple others looked back in startled looks with Ivan doing a bit of a double-take and Nino did a spit take. You know the normal reactions you get from your classmates.

"How long have you been there?" Rose asked

"I have been here the whole time" I explained.

My science teacher looked squinted in my direction, after taking off her glasses and giving them a quick polish.

"Ah, yes the third Sécrin child." She gave what sounded like an apology. "Your name is still not in the system. Apologies"

She was my homeroom teacher for 2 years but whatever. She looked over her notes again. "You can be with Marinette's group." She told gestured to the 3 groups of girls, all of whom gave me some inquisition looks.

"Okay," my heart shrank a little. Partly due to the fact I couldn't partner with my '_friend_'. And the fact I have to work with Ladybug and Chloe. Knowing those two I would still end up doing all the work by myself. With that, I awkwardly got up and met up with my classmates to go over the project in the library. I looked over to Juleka, she's looked back at me and gave me a small little wave one that I returned. However, my partners insisted on getting stuff from their lockers. I didn't have anything else better to do so I went with them.

Marinette and Sabrina started talking about what they should work on their project. I nodded along to whatever they were saying. Chloe then decided that she will not participate in the project and asked Sabrina to do all the work for her. Marinette who had clearly never had to work with Chloé on a project before was absolutely dumbfounded by the way Sabrina reacts to Chloé.

"Is that how you two work?" Marinette asked sounding almost appalled by Sabrina's dedication to chloé

"You got a problem with that? Come on, Sabrina." gestured to her quote on quote friend.

"Sabrina, Chloé's totally taking advantage of you. You don't have to do what she says. That's not how a real best friend acts!" Marinette tells her. I smiled a bit, while I do get annoyed by her sometimes Marinette is genuine very much so. She does her best to be the best person she can, both as Ladybug and as herself.

"I am with Marinette on this one" I responded. "Sabrina..."

"AHHHHH" the three of them responded, and grabbed each other in fear. Ah right, I was so caught up in the moment I forgot I was invisible to the rest of the world.

"Sorry I forgot you were there for a second...Ted?" Marinette asked.

"Ned" I corrected. "Sabrina, listen I think you should probably step back and see what you actually mean to chloé"

"No. Ugh, not only am I Sabrina's best friend, I'm her only friend, so she better do what I say, 'cause without me, she has nothing."

I did an office-esque look at Sabrina "You can't possibly think this is what a friend would say. That's really degrading"

"Yeah, I would rather have no friends than be friends with you" Marinette declared.

Chloé seemed to have enough of people ganging up on her, and rather trying to affirm her relationship with Sabrina turns around and storms off without uttering a word. Me and Marinette just looked at each other for a second, not entirely surprised by the reaction but it was less dramatic than what they were expecting. She seemed to have other 'important' things on her mind. So we just silently decided to head off to the library.

So fun fact about me being alone with Marinette, it's extremely awkward to be alone with her. I have known Marinette for years but the two of us haven't really interacted that much. Well whatever I do interact with her, it doesn't have a lasting impression on any of us. Don't get me wrong I have huge respect for the girl, she is going out and saving Paris every other day, all the while balancing her personal and academics is quite neat. But I never really interacted with her that much, or all by myself for that matter. And she herself didn't seem to know what to say to me and I for her. Though, I wonder if she somehow remembers that one thing.

However, before anything could come up Sabrina popped up. Thanking the both of us and somehow squeezing both of us in a bear hug.

"Oh, I can't believe the two of you stood up to Chloé like that. That was amazing"

"Hcksuuss" was close enough to what sound came out of my mouth. Boy did that girl hug hard. I squirmed myself out of the hug as fast as I could. Taking in a big gulp of air.

Marinette was able to get a couple of words out before she was released. " Of course... What are friends for" She was uncomfortable in the situation as well the same as me. Neither one of us were social swans before this year. That was the one thing we had in common, and she surely was stepping up to the plate. I smiled, I wonder if that could happen to me.

Sabrina then thanked Marinette a couple more times before speeding off to the library to pick us a spot. She left as quickly as she came, and both of them didn't know how to deal with that.

"That was sporadic" Marinette admitted.

"Tell me about" I admitted, "Seems to be in a happier place now"

"I know tiki but it's still offputting" She huffed, slouching her back at an uncomfortable angle.

"Ummm whose Tiki?" I asked looking at my new co-bestie confused, "My name is Ned"

I have never seen someone's eye explode out of their head so fast and powerful as I saw with Marinette that. Her entire body just stiffened, and slowly turned her head and looked directly into my eyes. She then started to panic hard.

"Ummm No one?" She said, her face starting to sweat. "I...uh... tiki is just... my... no. I mean, How long have you been there?"

"The whole time," I told her

The classic Marinette just washed over her. Something that I had always seen at a distance and was amused. Her little freakouts spasms always provided some form of entertainment around the school. Something some of my classmates would have a giggle, a reaction I shared. However, this time something felt off by it. My slight smile faded quickly as it came. _'She doesn't deserve this' _Whatever Tiki was it was clearly important and she didn't want to hold it over her head.

"Is tiki like the name of your phone or something?" I asked giving her an out.

"Huh?" She asked freezing mid-spasms

"Like Siri?" I asked "A virtual assistant"

Marinette held a wacky stance for a couple of seconds more before returning to a normal positioning in a blink of an eye. "Yeah, my assistant" She passively looks down at her purse and quickly looks up. "I was making a note to myself. I normally do it in private"

"Well," I said "Sorry for interrupting you"

She smiled, and both of us decided to continue or journey to the Library. We found Sabrina already taking out all the books that were relevant to their projects. We had to make a report on Hig Boson particles and its relation to the big bang, the start of creation. We wasted no time going through each book taking notes along the way. For the next hour, we looked into every physics book that even mentioned Higgs and subsequently written out everything we could take as notes. There was some chatter now and again some semblence of ice-breaking conversation.

"So, who are you guys going to vote for the new KIDZ weather girl" Sabrina broke the first level of conversation.

"The what?" I asked

"The weather girl for KIDZ" she responded. "Where you vote for the new weather, for KIDZ"

"What's KIDZ?" I asked

"You don't know about KIDZ," Marinette asked "The Kids public access show"

"No," I told them. "Reality TV stuff isn't really my friend."

"You should," Sabrina said, smacking her hands down on the table. "They have a bunch of programs made for by kids. KIDZs acts as a stepping stone for artsy kids to get their foot in the door."

"Wow, that's actually pretty cool" I felt my social battery rising. "what other stuff they do?"

"All kinds of programs," Marinette said putting down her textbook, a sign that she was dragged into the conversation. "They have kid written drama's fashion shows, game shows"

"Game shows?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sabrina said ignoring the textbooks she was using. " Shows like Whose that, extreme Pictionary, trivia canon and Islandist..."

"Oh, did you see the latest episode with Brad" Marinette interrupted,

"Oh, yeah" Sabrina changed attention tword Marinette now. "It was really unfair, he shouldn't have been kicked off the island"

"Kicked off the what?" I asked, "What are we talking about"

Marinette seemed to not have heard him. "It was either him or Jessica and honestly she deserves to be on the island, more than Brad. I love Brad but at least he got, that Spa day pass, its no $10,000."

"What's this about?" I asked again, however, my voice came off quieter than I meant it to be. The two of them didn't seem to hear me, and their conversion into the show had spread like wildfire. Marinette and Sabrina were totally lost in the discussion of the Islandist. I did my best to ask what was going on, so I can follow the conversation. However, every time I tried to open my mouth no words came out. Both of them were chatting faster than I could keep up, and the subject of the conversation kept changing and changing. First, it was about the show, then it was about the Spa's, thirdly it went to a conversation on fashion and at that point, I had given up. My will to keep up with them had plummeted greatly.

I decided to go back to the project, returning to my pen and paper I began reading through the textbook and copying any mention of Higgs, Gravity, or the big bang. Most people find the process tedious and I have noticed Juleka and others complain about the density of the wording in textbooks. Personally, I didn't understand it much, reading is reading and it was as simple as breathing. Sure, you had to learn to read, but you can't unlearn how to read. For me, at least stuff like textbooks and old novels was as easy as riding down a river. Floating from one paragraph to the next, I copied everything down piece by piece.

Ultimately I had finished all the notes from my book, as well as the other books I had checked out. Marinette and Sabrina were still talking, I couldn't follow what they were saying but I noticed that their books were left untouched from when they first started. Not wanting to disturb their conversation, I took the books that they were studying and one by one finished the note-taking for their books. It took some time, but I found my rhythm quite easily and I was done in no time.

With the last paper done, I released the pencil from my hand. It ached a bit from all the writing and the gripping of my pencil. At this point, I realized that a pencil landing on a desk was more disruptive to a conversation than my voice could ever be. Because when the pencil hit the desk and started rolling tword the girls, it broke them out of their social trance and recognized for the first time in a while that I was present

"Ahh!" Marinette took it worse than Sabrina. "When did you get here and where did you come from?"

"I am your partner," I told her. "I have been here the whole time"

"Right, right" she mumbled. She then looked at the pile of books that I had next to me. Back to where she had the books earlier and back at the pile, she did this cycle a couple more times till she processed that I already did the research.

"Did...did you take the library books?" Marinette asked me.

"Yeah, I got bored and finished up the note-taking," I straighten the thick piles of lined note as proof of my work. Like I needed proof. "I didn't want to interrupt your guy's conversation."

For some reason, I don't think that was the part they were focused on the notes too much. Both her and Sabrina's mouthes were still wide open, glancing at me the notes and the small pile to my right. Like I for some reason just finished a marathon, and let all my winning out in the open. I gave them both a puzzling look, not knowing what the deal was. Oh, no did they want to read them themselves? I thought I was doing them a favor.

"Oh, did you guys want to read your's yourselves?"

"Ned," Sabrina asked me, ignoring my last question. "Did you read all the textbooks? Cover to cover?"

I looked between the two, wondering if there's was some other way to read a book. "Yeah..."

"We had 20 books here" Marinette exclaimed, "20 text-books!" prompting the Librarian to shush us from an unknown location.

"I can count," I acknowledge my expertise in simple math. "What's your point?"

"My point is that we only been here for 45 minutes and you read through 20 texts books cover to cover" Marinette exclaimed. I looked at the clock, in the library. And yeah, she was right. Which was weird because I for sure thought that it was an hour. Though I still didn't quite see the problem.

"And..." I asked

The two girls were flabbergasted, at this statement. "That's, just fast. You read really fast." Sabrina mentioned

"Yeah" Marinette chimed in. "It's very impressive. That must be a world record or something"

I felt a smile creep up on my face at the same time it started to flush. "Really? You think?"

"Yeah, so do you like to read or something?" Marinette asked

Before I knew it a smile crept on my face, and my social battery had started to read.

"I do!" I said with a little giddy in my voice. I then go into a mini trade about my favorite series, my favorite authors, and single novels. I brought up the Starcross novels and Sabrina's eye lit up, she read them a lot when she was younger and had no idea that they were still being written. Marinette had never heard of the books before and Sabrina started to give her a rundown of the plot. I smiled, I offered Sabrina a copy of the 4th book, since she stopped reading it at the end of the third book. Marinette was also interested and I suggested I could give her one of my copies of the first book.

Things were going great, however before our conversation could evolve a little bit more. Chloe came in, I knew it because the entire room temperature fell by 5 degrees.

"Sabrina what's going on" She demanded "You weren't with me when I came back from Jean Claude"

"Was I supposed to?" Sabrina returning to her panicking self.

"You were," Chloe said stomping her foot on the ground. "You're my best friend. You are supposed to be at my bek and heel"

"I'm sorry" Sabrina started to say. She then turned and looked both at Marinette and I. For a moment it seemed that she had lit up for a moment and that she came to an epiphany. She took in one deep breath, and faced her 'friend' "You know what I am not!"

"Well I guess ... what?" Her pampered face changed so fast I think she might have gotten whiplash. "What do you mean?"

"It's not a friend's job to act as a slave," Sabrina said in a defiant tone, that was really surprising for her. Both Marinette and I was taken aback, the Librarian peeked behind the book shelve to give us a dirty look.

"Who said that you have been acting like a Slave?" Chloé glared at Marinette, ironically the one person in the world she admired more than anyone else. "You said I have been treating her like a Slave."

"Those technically weren't their exact words," Marinette said "Can we just get back to the assignment"

"Marinette's right," She said "We also have a project to do so can you just sit down and work on it with us"

Chloé was mad however she did comply with her friend's words. She stomped her feet and audibly made her way around the table. I was about to start planning with the others what should our project be now that we have all the information we need.

"Ok, now I think a tri-fold model would be"

"Ah-hem"

I looked over my shoulder, and Chloé was standing by the empty seat next to me. I don't know what I did to offend her when talking about a piece of cardboard but I was excited.

"This seat is taken please leave" Chloe asked

"Umm, it's open" I glanced at the empty chair that she was standing in front of and back at her. Not entirely understanding the problem that she was having.

"Leave" she further insisted. "I won't ask a second time"

I checked for a second time, and my gut feeling was right, the seat was still empty. I look at Marinette and Sabrina, hoping that one of them could help me out one whatever Chloé was talking about.

"The seat is taken please leave" She further, her voice row rising in pitch.

Finally, I understood just what in the world she was talking about. "You mean the one I am currently sitting in," I asked slapping my hands on the armrest to make sure I was signaling the right one. "The one I am currently sitting. That's the seat is taken?"

"It's taken, its mine leave," she told me

My voice started to rise a bit "What on earth are you blabbing about? It's my seat."

"No, it's not its mine" Her voice rising to a screaming level and had gotten the attention of the librarian who Chloé shot down with a mean glare. "You are trespassing"

"Trespassing? I have been sitting here for an hour... It's a chair" I wallowed at her weird appeal.

"I will have my daddy arrested for this" She leaned really close into me and wagged her finger hitting my forehead.

I slowly turned my head tword Sabrina. Who has also had a widened eye of shock? I did my best to send a '_Why-is-your-friend-trying-to-use-her-father's-executive-powers-over-a-wooden-chair'_ look, but I don't know how well it was received. Sabrina was CHloé's best friend or whatever relationship I was, so I figured she knew something. When I didn't get a response look back from her, I slowly look back at Chloé.

"You are aware that a chair is right in front of you and being sat in right?" I said with the best confidence I could muster in this kind of situation.

Chloés eyes bugged out for a second, then quickly returned to a hellish blaze. She moved her face out of my own and reached into a little nap sack that she carries with her. She reaches in and pulls out a white silky looking hat and put it in my face.

"Leave this seat now and you get this Agreste original" She prompted with a cruel smile.

I just stared at the overpriced piece of fabric that Chloé had in her hand. I looked at her and back at the hat wondering.

"How is this supposed to influence my decisions, in any possible way?" I asked

"Oh" Chloé's voice raised to go in full-on mocking mode. "I guess you don't want this exclusive outfit. That would make even Marinette look somewhat more presentable"

"Not interested," I told her.

"Its an agreste!" Chloé insisted

I looked at the glittery hat. "Is that supposed to impress me?"

"Are you kidding" Sabrina injected "It's an Agreste's special! Adrian's dad made it himself"

"It's a hat," I told her.

"A hat that's in season" Chloé interjected, smugly as if she had somehow got me in a trap. Unfortunately, I am the worst person to talk to about fashion.

"I don't know what that means," I said

Chloé's eyes started to bulge a bit. My people skills are very rusty but even I could tell that she could not process any of the words that she just said. And for the first time since I knew her, she seemed to be at a loss for words. Her mouth opened and closed again, on a loop always trying to find a way to say something but the words never seemed to come to her. She would have probably stayed like that forever if the room didn't start to rain hats.

One by one replica of the hat that Sabrina had started to fall from the sky. Making a small pool of expensive clothes piling up at their feet, growing higher and higher with the passing second.

"What the?" Marinette said before she was slowly being drowned out by the number of hats in her presence. I was also surprised, this day didn't felt like an Akumitizing day, and yet here was a bunch of hats falling from the sky. Eventually, the hats stopped, as quickly as they came leaving me and my partners drenched in designer outfits. I reflected on this, and all of the other strange attacks Hawkmoth threw in Paris's way. He created an army of rock people, giving manpower over pigeons, and gave Nino a weird affinity for bubbles. I saw all those things and thought the stuff was weird on its own. But very few of them were something that interacted with me daily or caught me by surprise.

"I am sorry what?" I looked at the sea of material items that just flooded the halls a couple of seconds after it everything claimed down.

"My Hair" Chloe complained, like having hundreds of hats falling on your head wasn't that big of a surprise.

Suddenly a giant hairdresser appears from the sky, started blowing hot winds at the Chloé. The Mayorʻs daughter had the smart idea and ran away, because surprise, surprise chloé got another person akumatised _(I wonder if that's going to become a trend)_

"Ahhh! Please! Please! Ahhhh!" She ran away from the table, being closely followed by.

Sabrina had the ingenious idea to hide underneath the table, while I was content to continue doing our project on a different table but she grabbed my hand and pulled me and yanked me under the table. From our safe space, we had a clear view of seeing the hair blower continuing to mess up Chloé's hair. I had noticed, that Marinette was not under the table with us, so I was not too worried about Chloé's safety but Sabrina was, her grip hadn't left my arm and the grip only harden the longer Chloé was screaming.

"No, Please not the hair" She continued to scream as she gallanted across the Library.

Softly in the background, I hear. "Claws out"

The first of the pair of lovebirds jumped out and started to swipe away at the giant hair blower. Marinette soon joined him and began wrestling the monstrous object, as it continued to chase Chloé. Sabrina watched the whole thing, still gripping my arm pretty hard. I was less stressed than she was, my eye did not follow the action, but for the Akuma. I knew that the hairdryer and the falling hats themselves were only the by-products, of a spawner Akuma.

I looked around the library and I spotted a mime in the upper levels, and I knew something was off. I feel like I would have known if a mine was taking classes with me.

Like most Mimes, this one had an evil grin on its face. He wore the standard mime outfit, but instead of black striped and black pants, it was a deep shade of purple. He wore a dark butterfly marking around his face, which was a lighter shade of purple than his stripes. He seemed to be holding a tablet and stylus in his hand like he was drawing something.

Instinctively I raised my hand, to alert the heroes to the villain's location. I wanted it to be dramatic, and stoic and say something 'The villain is over there!'

But what came out of my mouth was.

"MIME!"

Perhaps I was more terrified of the situation than I thought.

Adrian made some comments about drawing and he and Marinette engaged the new villain. However before the pair was able successfully to apprehend the mime, he projected an invisible wall and disappeared through a self-drawn hole and jumped through it.

"Is it safe to come out" Chloe nervously whimpered? "I don't think my hair can take much more"

"Do you know who the villain is this time?" Adrian jumped down from the second floor, to where the mayor's daughter was hiding.

"No idea" she cowered "All I know is that I was unfairly attacked."

"Sounds familiar" I heard Marinette cursed under her breath.

People were now coming out of their hiding spots, seeing that the battle is now over. A good chunk of the people ran away when the Hairdresser had first appeared, others do to fight or inability to actually leave, took to hiding under tables or crouching behind bookshelves. All of them nervously looking up at the two heroes wondering what was happening next. Ladybug had noticed the fear on their faces, as well as the damage the villain left in their wake.

"I think we should move Chloé somewhere else," Marinette told her partner.

Chat noir nodded, and immediately Chloé jumped into his arms. "My hero"

Adrian gave a weirdly smile to his oldest friend, one that Marinette clearly disliked. The three pulled out their magical tools and leaped out of the library's window and disappeared.

_'Man unrequited is all the rage these days huh?' _I noted when I finally came back from underneath the table.

"Look at this mess," Sabrina said looking at the result of the villains haveck on the library.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I think we are done studying for the day."

"I hope Chloé is alright," said Sabrina

"She's fine," I told her. I gazed around the table we were sitting at and grabbed my bag, which had flown ten feet away from where I was sitting. "Those two lovebirds, are good at their jobs"

"Yeah, I guess," she said her voice fading a bit when she said that. "I just hope that she will be alright. A lot of Akuma's go after her. Though now that I think about it, it's probably her fault that they happen though."

I slum my backpack over my shoulder. "Probably, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Now, I think our notes got scattered around the building here, want to help me look for them"

Sabrina nodded, and the two went along gathering the pieces of paper that had scattered from the hairdresser and the falling hats. A good chunk of which, were found around the table they were sitting in, and the rest got blown across the library. Leaving me and Sabrina to go, on unnecessary treks across the room, helping to put back some books and resetting the bookshelves along with some of the other students. We were able to pack up all 35 pages of notes, as well as put most of the library back in original shape, but we did that in silence. Sabrina spoke again after we returned to the table with the notes

"Is it bad that I hope that Chloé is okay?"

I blinked, staring at Sabrina. "Come again"

"Chloé isn't my best friend anymore" She further said. "You guys helped me see how horrible she has been treating me, but I am not angry at her. I just want her to be okay"

Friendship, a subject that I didn't know about personally, but it was a topic that was well explored in the books I've read. Still, even with those assorted tropes in my mind, it was difficult for me to come up with a response.

"Well, you have known her for so long so it's natural for you to be worried" I did my best to assure her. "It's not unreasonable to make sure that she is okay and personally I don't see anything wrong with caring about someone's well-being. Just don't be blinded by it?"

"But, Marinette was right she treated me like a slave" Sabrina responded.

"Sabrina, only you can decide what's right and wrong" I assured her. "You can only be yourself by yourself."

She looks back at me, and it looked like something was forming in her eyes. "Thanks, Ned"

"No prob," I told her. Still not used to people calling me by name, especially getting it right for the first time.

She wiped her face on her leave, rubbing out any of the tears that her eyes were projecting. Mud rub, Sabrina abruptly stopped and started to gaze around the library as if she was looking for something.

"Wait, where did Marinette go?" Sabrina asked, recognizing for the first time that their classmate had left. "I didn't see her leave."

"Oh," I said quickly remembering Marinette's biggest secret. "I saw her run out of the library the second after Ladybug showed up. Guess she wanted to get somewhere safe."

"But she left us behind. A friend wouldn't do that right?" Sabrina's head lowered. I kinda realized that having your new friend ditch you after ditching your old friend might shake you up emotionally.

"Umm... I think it's fine" I awkwardly blurted out. Sabrina looked at me, her eyes now starting to get blurry once more"I mean fear makes people do weird stuff. I don't think she meant anything by it"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," She said her voice still pretty low."

"By the way, you never answered" Her voice suddenly popped up.

"About what?" I asked, not recalling any such conversation with her.

"The Spa day? Marinette and I were just talking about it"

Yeah, now I have no idea what she was talking about. "Yeah, you said something like that earlier, didn't really catch it"

"Well, I do have some Spa day coupons and I was wondering what day would work for you?"

"Me, you inviting _me_ on a spa day" I had never considered Spa-ing an activity to do with friends. It never seemed to be my thing or a thing I would enjoy. But on the other hand, it would be an excuse to get me out of the house and do something. Despite being an introvert myself, I never do like staying in one place for a long period of time.

Sabrina seemed to pick up on inner conflict. "Sorry, Marinette did mention that since you are a boy you might not," Sabrina said

"No no, I would love to come!" I waved my hands in multiple directions to display that I am trying to not be disrespectful. "Honestly, it's just that people don't really invite me to a lot of things. I guess you can say I have a free schedule."

"Really? That's great! Just the three of us bestie's and we will have the time of our lives" Sabrina said with a smile.

"Great!" I said, echoing the same smile on her face.

The two of us began walking out of the school, talking back and forth catching her up on the star-cross series, and the other spin-off she missed. She hung on every word and had a blast. For once, my social battery wasn't draining as fast as it would normally.

"Oh it looks like, Marinette would probably need the notes." Sabrina noticed, looking at the copies of my handwritten notes that I had in my hand.

"Oh, she is going to need that." I agreed, she may be a superhero but you can only go so far without studying.

"Someone would have to run it back to her." She asked

"Can you do it?" I asked hesitantly

"I have to do something with my dad later, cant you do it"

"Umm no" My face went a bit red "It's just that I am not allowed in the restaurant"

"Your not?" she asked

"Kinda, no but yes," I asked my face getting flustered a bit. The words I want to say just wasn't adding up to what I want to say. It's hard for me to talk about this certain subject, even if it was so long ago. Hopefully, Sabrina would understand.

"But your so forgettable how does that work?" She said, calling me out.

"Ummm" my throat dried up. "I don't like to talk about it. Can you please do this, as a friend"

My social battery just ran out. Both Sabrina and I looked at each other, neither one of us wanted to do anything but we both know that this was something that had to be done.

"Okay" Sabrina relented after an uncomfortable 3 minutes "I will go run this over to Marinette's place. I don't live that far away from her anyways"

I felt the color return to my face. "Thanks so much, Sabrina"

Taking this as the official end of our study group, I grabbed all my things and head out. I gave a wave back at Sabrina, and she gave a small wave back at me. As I walked, I started to doubt the decision I made with Selina. Should I've taken the bullet? I wish that I could have, but I really don't like even thinking about _the Incident much less returning _back to it. I know I am overreacting, I know Sabrina's right Marinette has probably long forgotten about the whole ideal. We were kids when it happened.

I crossed through the park, I didn't bother putting my headphones in for once. I didn't need it, I was already lost in thought. My mind kept going on Sabrina giving Marinette her homework, and her proposition of going to the spa. I never thought about going to the Spa before, didn't know that was even a thing a boy could do. I had started to weigh the pros and cons of going this Saturday. I had already planned on staying and reading a book, it was a book I already read but it was a fun one. I liked reading books, I knew that. I like the dream world it creates, and I enjoy it. I don't know if I would like to go to a Spa, I don't know how I feel hanging around Sabrina and Marinette for a couple more hours then I already did.

I kept weighing this on my mind until I was out of the park, and already back on the bridge on my way back. Before a familiar voice called from behind me.

"Hey Ned"

All my concentrations from the past 30 minutes and suddenly disappeared. Juleka showed up, behind me. Didn't know she was there, didn't think anyone was gonna talk to me. So it caught me off guard, like a lot.

"Ahhh!"

That caught her off guard too.

"Ahhh!"

It took us a second to catch our breaths. We were both easily startled, I will add that to the list of similarities that we both have.

"Sorry about that," She apologized, "I didn't mean to scare you".

"It's fine," I told her, i enjoy her company "What's up?"

"Oh, I was wondering how you were doing with the whole Akuma attack and all"

"It was fine" I admitted. "Were you in the library too?"

"No, Ruby wanted an artsy place to study so we were in the art room," She told me.

"Must have been fun"

"Taking notes with a paintbrush was not fun" She complained, grabbing massaging her wrists as she said it.

I didn't know how to come back to that, so I just nodded and hummed.

The two of us didn't talk much after. We just walked across, the bridge we noticed the birds flying by. As time passed the bridges seemed to be more eyecatching, but for some reason, I didn't want to savor the time looking at them, not alone at least. I was wracking my head with something to say to her. So I quickly brought up a subject.

"Any Idea who Hawkmoth has chosen this time," I asked

"Oh, a bit," Juleka, quickly pulled out her phone and started scrolling. Looking for some info on the Labyblog i guess. "Currently we think it's Nathanial. Alya thinks so because of the drawing tablet he used. And he hasn't participated in the chat since this mourning"

_'make sense'_ I thought in retrospect. _'Science class today hasn't really been a positive learning experience. Nathanial being exposed like that, and right in front of his crushes boyfriend to.'_

"Wait what chat?" I asked, breaking out of the moment.

Juleka stared at like I just missed a bird doing a cartwheel in front of me "The class group chats?"

"We have a class group chat?" I asked.

Her face just cringed. "I am guessing that you aren't in it?"

"No"

"Well, that explains the lack of Starcross memes" She huffed. "Well, originally it was for memes, but now its been used as a way to track Akuma's"

Huh, I didn't know how I felt about this. That would explain some of the inside jokes that have popped up earlier, like the way people were talking about a skulking orange, and they have been yelling what I assume is a tv quote every 5 seconds.

"Do you want an invite?" Juleka offered, pulling her phone out gesturing for me to input my info into the chat

"Not really," I said, if they don't bother inviting me or learning my name they will probably boot me out in the week. Juleka would probably have to work with everyone just to keep me in, and I don't think that's a good waste of anyone's time. But maybe Juleka can help me with a different problem.

"Hey, random question. What do you know of Spa?" I spat out. Might as well get it off my chest.

Juleka wasn't entirely sure "Umm not much. I don't like them very much"

"I thought girls like Spa's. Is that not what all girls do"

"Not really my 'thing'. Why do you ask?"

"I was invited, or so demanded by Sabrina but I don't know. Not really in my comfort zone"

"Rose tells me that we never know what we are comfortable with. But new things always seem unpleasant until you try it" She said finally

"Well, what if I don't like it," I asked

Juleka thought about this for the moment. "Well, you get to hang out with new people. That's what you always wanted right?"

I blinked. "Huh"

A foghorn blew out in the distance. Juleka seemed to recognize it. "I have to get going, my boat is that way"

"All right see you," I said before watching her take off down the street and making her way down to the river.

I waved goodbye to my friend and continued my trek back home. I sat down, had dinner with my family, did most of my assignments as well as reread the 2nd Star Cross books. Still, even after all this time, my mind was torn about hanging out with Sabrina and Marinette this weekend. It wasn't until the 3rd math problem did I realize what Juleka said "Wait did she say boat?"

* * *

After a horrible night sleeping in my bathtub with a chessboard (long story), I was more or less ready to get back to school. I had been rethinking what Juleka had been saying to me since yesterday, about whether a spa day was something I should do. I was not sure about the whole thing quite the whole thing, I looked into the sort of treatments that they had for me, and was pleasantly surprised by the numerous services that they provide. I was not entirely sure what a chemical peel or paraffin wax was, but you can never go wrong with a Jacuzzi and I heard that messages are nice.

But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't weigh that against not. While the benefits of going to the spa were getting greater I was never convinced. Any of the benefits I saw were being weighed down by the same options I always had. I felt stuck, and I desperately needed a push one way or another.

Did I want to go, and do I want to go with them?

But the school bell rang, and I was brought out of my trance. Another day of school, and it was a special period so I had Science again. Maybe some scientific knowledge will help me make a decision or ladybug or chat noir will do something amazing and have the spa day delayed so I didn't have to make a decision.

I drudge up the steps the same I do every day, and headed my way to the classroom. Once I got into the science classroom, I noticed that no one was in it. I peeked my head, in and around the classroom and noticed that it was completely deserted. I did this several times just to be sure.

'Surely it's not Saturday' I thought to myself. Didn't want to make that mistake again.

I paced up and down the hallways, and I wound up in the cafeteria and I found practically the entire school coming over and fangirling over Chloé.

Ok, I was ready for this hyper-reality dream to end now.

Alex pushed me out of the way and started shouting cheers of praise for Chloé. And with the unfortunate knowledge I was awake, I wondered just what on earth did Nathanial do to make Chloé herself a hero. I asked around and it turns out Chloé did some amazing hero feat that helped save the day.  
One look at Marinette and I more or less got the whole story.

As people gathered around, I decided to head back to class. I swiveled on my heel and immediately head-butted Sabrina

"Hey, Sabrina, were you able to get the notes to Marinette?"

"Hey, Ned . . . I was but"

"Sabrina!" Chloé stood up. "I need you to go and grab my number 4 mirror and your maths homework _Pronto_."

"Yes Chloe," She said espacticly and I felt sick to my stomach.

"You guys made up?" I asked, "But you were so defiant about it"

"Yeah, I forgave her because of how selfless she acted the other day," She said with a smile lost in thought. She smiled and moved along, however before I could register what my mouth was doing I quickly asked

"Are we still on for that Spa day?" Ned asked Sabrina

"Hmmm?" Sabrina questioned. She looked as though I just said something akin to joining the circus. And something in my soul grew cold _'She didn't remember it'_

"Oh," Sabrina said with the lights clicking in her head. "Yeah about that Chloé actually needs someone to Study for her tests that week as well as plan a social get together with a prince so I am kind of booked for that weekend and for the month"

"So is there any alternate days then," I asked, in what I convinced myself is politeness. I didn't know why I was still bothering with this. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to go, and my decision has been taken from me. But I don't feel relieved, my chest feels heavier.

"Being Chloés friend is a full-time thing so I don't think I can say for certain. Maybe sometime later" She explained

"But..."

"I have to get going, Ned." She said, "Chloe has some math homework I have to do."

"What about?"

"Next time"

She then ran to follow the mayor's daughters. I didn't do anything I just stood in the cafeteria, and watch the normal students all walk around all the while making plans with what to do after school and club activities. I just kind of stood there not understanding anything that was going on around me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From FN: How did this get so long?  
I didn't want it to be this long.  
Why couldn't you be short!  
...  
But yeah, here is Ned Part 3. Sorry, it took so long, to make. It took way too long to write, so many stories I wanted to write otherwise, covid school. I don't know how I feel about this chapter I feel like I rushed some things but I am done with it. After months of staring at it, I am just done. If there are any glaring errors feel free to point them out and I will correct them later.  
Next Update: ... let me get back to you on that.

**Author's Note:**

> AN From Fanfiction.Net: Ha! Did you think I was going to write RWBY related content forever? Fools, I Like too many fandoms only to write about just one.
> 
> So yeah, I like Miraculous Ladybug. It's so trope-y when it comes to it's writing, but at the same time builds on its own trope to make a coherent story. It's just fun to watch. And with how bizarre the show is, I thought it would be funny if there were only one guy who knew both Marinette's and Adrian's secret identities (considering how dramatic they are with there magical girl transformation) and goes on with life as is. Thus Ned was born! (with a dash of Kuroko no Basuke for fun)
> 
> This fic was surprisingly fun to write. I just jotted down a few notes for it, and all of a sudden, I wrote the first 3,000 words in one sitting. It's definitely a series that I am going to come back and write episodically. There is no real outline for the fic, just going to adapt different episodes (in my own order because I am the God of my timeline) and see how long it takes me. I do have an ending idea, but I will cross that bridge if I pass it.
> 
> Also: Code: RWBY 3 is coming soon! It just has a little more editing to go through before it is done. I would have posted that first, but I wrote this fic extremely fast. Then I feel like I will make Part 2 of First Words/Angel of Death next. But who knows? Imagination am I right? (Plus, I still have some 2+-year-old stories that are still in their infancy stages)


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